Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of cable conveyors, and more particularly to the discs that are attached to the cable travelling through a tubular circuit.
Description of the Related Art
As can be seen by reference to the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,905,473, 4,071,136, 4,395,973 and 7,267,218, (all hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entirety), the prior art is replete with myriad and diverse cable conveyor systems.
Cable conveyor systems have long been in use to transport materials from a charging location to discharging locations along the path of the conveyor. Discs attached at intervals to the cable, or other flexible member, travel within the tube to contact and move the material through the tube to desired locations within a facility.
The systems can, for example, wind through a building to have outlets wherever the user may wish to deliver the product being conveyed. There are unlimited possibilities of shapes of system and virtually an unlimited number of outlet opening locations for selectively delivering the material being conveyed to wherever desired. Typically, each outlet opening can be opened or closed individually.
The usual cable conveyor includes an endless cable with discs attached at even intervals. The discs have a diameter slightly smaller than the diameter of the tube through which the cable travels, such that the discs travel adjacent the interior wall of the tube. In order to avoid binding of the discs in the tube, the outside diameter of the discs is made smaller that the inside diameter of the tubes by a minimum of about 0.075″. Discs have been formed of various materials including nylon and high molecular weight polyethylene.
Cable conveyors are used for numerous materials including industrial metal and plastic products, animal feed compositions, and human food items. When the conveyed material has a small particle size, material can pass through the gap between the disc and the tube wall, thus limiting the efficiency of the system.
As a consequence of the foregoing situation, there has existed a longstanding need for a new and improved cable conveyor disc and the provision of such a construction is a stated objective of the present invention.